Improve Your Productivity and Make Work Easier For Yourself

Everyone wants to get a strong sense a sense of achievement as the daily grind comes to a conclusion.

Being very effective at work isn’t rocket science, but it does call for strategic thinking on how you manage your time.

Below are a few basic but efficient techniques for growing your productivity on the job.

Audit time spent on tasks

You might think you’re very good at assessing the length of time spent on different tasks. However, some study has indicated only about 17 percent of men and women are capable of accurately guessing any given amount of time that has passed. If you’re going to use your time as efficiently as possible, it’s crucial for you to understand how much time any given task takes.

For those working in the tech industry, there are numerous software tools that can track just how much time you spend on tasks, including on tasks like email, social media and various apps.

Take a proactive, not a reactive approach

Having incoming calls and messages to influence how you invest your time each day likely means you spend more time putting out fires than preventing them.

To maximize your daily productivity, you need to look ahead and handle situations before they become urgent. This means lowering the priority level on responding to incoming calls and messages. Since responding to people is a part of your job and essential for good communication, reserve time for responding to co-workers, but don’t let these responses dictate what your day will be. Have a proactive strategy at the outset of each day, and then do your best to follow it.

Work in 90-minute blocks

Scientists have discovered elite athletes and musicians who work in 90-minute increments are more effective than those who work over longer blocks. Researchers have also discovered that top performers work four-and-a-half hours a day or less, on average.

If you’re looking for ways to break up your days into 90-mintue blocks, research has also shown that small exercise breaks during the day can improve productivity. So if you’re not eating lunch on your break, you should be going for a walk or ducking into the company fitness center.

Take advantage of ‘dead time’

If you’re able to do some of your work remotely, look for times away from the office when you could be squeezing a little bit of work in. This could be while taking public transit, waiting for a doctor’s appointment, or any other time you might normally spend distracting yourself with Candy Crush or Facebook.

Don’t bother reaching for perfect productivity

It’s normal for hard-working professionals to get stuck on trying to perfect a task so they can do it in the shortest time possible. As opposed to wasting energy chasing perfection, focus on just getting things done and boosting productivity on tasks where you can make up the most ground.

Are you looking for a new job in the IT field?

At Software Management Consultants, we regularly help professionals by making their job search as efficient as possible. If you’re looking to take the next step in your career, but feel like you don’t have the time, please contact us today to learn how we can help.